Prescriptions: If You’re a Man

I am an OB/GYN by training. I am a guycologist by default. It started 20 years ago when I had two boys, and quickly learned that my shy husband was not going to make an effort to explain male vs. female anatomy to curious little children. I was the one who showed them Gray’s Anatomy textbook and taught them the anatomically correct names for all of the sexual organs.

As teens I gave them the “condom talk,” which I took very seriously. I timed them to make sure they could unfurl a Trojan onto a banana in less than 20 seconds. I didn’t care if they rolled their eyes 500 times. I was not going to be a grandmother while they were still in high school.

But it was one of my male friends, who coined the term “guycologist,” to describe this strange role that my expertise in (mostly female) reproductive anatomy created for the men in my life. Often, I would find myself being quizzed by men on the risks of using Viagra, or their worries about prostate cancer. Usually this happened after they had consumed a few alcoholic beverages. Many of my patients’ husbands or boyfriends have also asked me these questions – even though they (presumably) aren’t drinking in the clinic waiting room.

Now that I study reproductive environmental health I feel that my role as a guycologist has broadened. I’d like to discuss the emerging science around the environment, and what it means to be a guy. (I will add this caveat: when it comes to human disease and the environment, causality is difficult to prove because of genetic susceptibility and the timing of complex exposure patterns.)